CSMA/CD
Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection
This is a MAC (Medium Access Control) technique used on an Ethernet LAN (Local Area Network) which is a shared collision domain. The technique requires all network devices to monitor the carrier to determine whether there is any traffic being sent prior to transmitting their information. Should two devices transmit at the same time, they will back off and wait for a time (randomly generated) prior to attempting to re-transmit the information.